The 2026 WNBA Expansion Draft on Friday marked the end of the league’s lengthy business hiatus due to the negotiations of the new collective bargaining agreement. It also marked the dawn of a new era as the Portland Fire and Toronto Tempo took their first steps towards constructing their 2026 rosters. Every team — with the exception of the Chicago Sky — was affected in some way, and the results of the proceedings meant the Minnesota Lynx must say goodbye to a pair of fan favorites in Bridget Carleton and Maria Kliundikova, selected by Portland and Toronto respectively.
ESPN’s Malika Andrews announced Carleton’s name first as the No. 1 overall selection in the expansion draft. Carleton, a native of Chatham, Ontario, just three hours southwest of Toronto on the 401, was a popular prediction to the Tempo in mock expansion drafts across WNBA interwebs. However, when Toronto won the coin toss and opted to pick first between the two teams in the college draft on Monday, April 13, it opened the door for Portland to pick its top preference in the pool of unprotected players and they zeroed in on the Canadian sharpshooter.
“The strategy was, ‘who is our unrestricted free agent?’ and Bridget immediately stood out,” Fire GM Vanja Černivec told ESPN’s Malika Andrews during the expansion draft broadcast. “Strategy-wise, how do we secure and make sure that she ends up on our roster? And the obvious logic was she’s gonna to be our No. 1 pick. Bridget is someone that, number one, everybody wants to play with. Her character speaks for herself. What she brings on the court on both ends of the floor, it’s something that’s hard to find in a player. We’re very excited to see her excel defensively, but also stretch the floor and play modern, team-oriented basketball on offense.”
Carleton departs Minnesota after 251 games across seven strong seasons in a Lynx uniform. After getting cut by Connecticut just four games into her WNBA career in 2019, she caught on with the Lynx and methodically worked her way up from the bottom of the roster to a perennial starter.
Her best season with the Lynx came in 2024. Carleton averaged a career-high 9.6 points per game and shot 44.4% from the field, helping Minnesota come devastatingly close to capturing its fifth championship. The Iowa State grad finished third in that season’s Most Improved Player voting, behind DiJonai Carrington and Dearica Hamby.
Lynx Head Coach and President of Basketball Operations Cheryl Reeve praised Carleton’s basketball IQ and ability to make simple yet effective plays during the 2024 Finals run.
Reeve fondly recalled a play Carleton made during her first possession as a Lynx way back in 2019.
“It was a simple bounce pass to an open player off of the defensive rotation to her,” Reeve said. “She made a simple play. And I just think about that and how much that affected us, because it’s lost on people to do the simple thing. So that’s how we knew that she’d be really valuable and that hopefully with time she would get to where she’s gotten to.”
Carleton moves on to the next phase of her career with her name printed all over the place in the Lynx franchise record books. She’s top five in team history in three-pointers made (262), attempted (668), and in three-point percentages (.392). She’s top ten in several categories, including assists (351), true shooting percentage (.563) and win shares (12.2).
“It’s really satisfying, because I think maybe one of the hardest things to do in our profession is to be patient with a player and let them evolve and grow,” Reeve said. “[Carleton’s] in her sixth season, so I think that tells you a lot because there’s many times that we didn’t allow that process to happen, and that [shows] maybe how much we thought of her being a Lynx, and our belief that what she would get to, where she’s gotten to, and even has more she could do.”
Finding a suitable replacement for Carleton’s steady minutes will be a high priority for the Lynx in the next couple weeks. The aforementioned Carrington is a candidate to slide into that role if she chooses to return to Minnesota. Carrington made one start and played in 11 games after the Lynx acquired her in a deadline deal with Dallas. Reeve and company also have the No. 2 pick in the 2026 WNBA Draft to play with and could find a replacement for Carleton’s defensive smarts and 3-point prowess with that selection as well.
Carleton wasn’t the only Lynx fan-favorite casualty in the expansion draft, as Toronto selected center Maria Kliundikova in the second round. Kliundikova, affectionately known as ‘Masha,’ was one of the best pickups of the season for the Lynx in 2025, providing a veteran poise, rock solid defense and rebounding ability for Minnesota’s depth. She averaged 4.4 points and 3.0 rebounds per game across 34 games, making one start in 2025.
At first glance, the Lynx may already have a solution to replace Kliundikova’s minutes with one of the two players they currently have under contract. Dorka Juhász, who sat out all of 2025, could return to the Lynx for her third WNBA season and could naturally slot in as the first big off the bench. Juhász, who is currently enjoying a successful season with Turkish club Galatasaray, averaged 5.4 points and 5.2 rebounds per game across 72 games and 34 starts for the Lynx in 2023 and 2024.
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